Vietnam raises petroleum, oil import tax

---

HANOI, Sept. 13 (Xinhua): Vietnam's Finance Ministry has decided to raise its import tax on most kinds of petroleum and oil products to 5 per cent on Sept. 15 from current zero per cent, according to local newspaper Pioneer today.
The new tax rate is applied amid declining world oil prices. The current rate has been applied since May 2007 when the prices were high.
If the world oil price drops to below 100 U.S. dollars per barrel, the ministry will consider lowering retail prices of petroleum and oil products in the Vietnamese market, the newspaper said.
Vietnam imported 9.6 million tons of petroleum products totaling 9.1 billion dollars in the first eight months of this year, up 13.7 per cent and 94.3 per cent, respectively, against the same period last year, according to the country's General Statistics Office.
Meanwhile, it exported nearly nine million tons of crude oil worth roughly 7.9 billion dollars, down 10.8 per cent in volume, but up 53.3 per cent in value.